Home Office

Passports

lord forsyth of drumlean: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an Irish citizen born in Ireland with an English mother is entitled to apply for a British passport.

lord forsyth of drumlean: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an Irish citizen born in Ireland with an English father is entitled to apply for a British passport.

baroness williams of trafford: To apply for a British passport, a person must first hold a form of British nationality. Irish nationals born after 1949 can generally become British citizens if one of their parents held British citizenship at the time of their birth and was able to pass that status on. Mothers could only pass on British nationality from 1 January 1983.Where they do not hold British nationality, Irish nationals with a British citizen parent are able to apply for naturalisation or registration as a British citizen provided they meet the statutory requirements.

Asylum: Expenditure

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the £3.6 million development fund for claims under the Dublin Regulation and for family reunion has so far been spent; and whether such expenditure has increased and accelerated the approval of cases.

baroness williams of trafford: Following the Sandhurst Treaty in January 2018, officials within the French and British Governments have been working collaboratively to understand how the Dublin Development Fund can be used most effectively. Under the terms of the Sandhurst Treaty, an Asylum Liaison Officer has been deployed in Paris to facilitate this cooperation.We are confident that the agreed programme of work will improve access to the Dublin process and ensure comprehensive support and accurate information is provided to vulnerable migrants. We are in the process of transferring these funds and will continue to work with the French Government to implement this work.

Immigration: EU Nationals

lord turnbull: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the immigration status of EU nationals who are recruited by a Government department, serve for a time in the UK, and are then posted to serve in an overseas office of that department.

lord turnbull: To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have given to departments on the advice they should give to EU nationals they have recruited and who serve initially in an office located in the UK and are then posted to an overseas office of the department.

baroness williams of trafford: EU citizens and their family members resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 will be able to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme, in line with the draft Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union published on 19 March 2018.As set out in paragraph 3.4 of the Statement of Intent on the scheme published on 21 June 2018, ‘resident in the UK’ will include those who are outside the UK on 31 December 2020 but who have maintained continuity of residence here, generally as set out in current free movement rules for those who have not already acquired EU permanent residence rights, and up to five years’ absence for those who have. Once granted, settled status under the scheme will not lapse unless the holder is then absent from the UK for more than five consecutive years.We are considering carefully how we can ensure that EU citizen Crown servants and their family members, the EU citizen family members of British citizen Crown servants and EU citizen family members of HM Forces personnel, are not unfairly disadvantaged under the scheme by absences from the UK as a result of overseas postings. We are working closely with other departments on this issue and will set out further details in due course.

British Nationality: Children

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for children to register their entitlement to British citizenship there have been in each of the last three years; and of those, how many have received a waiver of the fee.

baroness williams of trafford: The available published information on the total number of citizenship applications and grants is published as part of the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Citizenship tables, latest edition available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#citizenship The table below provides figures for all registration applications (entitlement and discretionary) in the last 3 calendar years. British citizenship applications by broad typeYearApplications for British  citizenshipOf which: Applications for registration2015150,76742,9682016130,99541,1582017141,79441,905Source: Home Office, Migration Border Analysis.Immigration Statistics year to June 2018 - table cz_01_q. Applications for British citizenship by the applicant’s age are not routinely published.

Asylum: Deportation

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 October (HL10690), why they deport failed asylum seekers to Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which they have advised are too dangerous for "all travel" by British citizens.

baroness williams of trafford: As Lord Ahmad explained in his response of 25 October, the FCO’s advice is aimed at British nationals who may be planning to travel to particular countries. In the case of asylum seekers, the Home Office considers whether it would be a breach of our international obligations to require a national of, or a person entitled to reside in, one of those countries to return there.We would only seek to return someone if the Home Office and the courts had considered the individual facts of a case and concluded that it would not be a breach of those obligations.

Department for Transport

Gospel Oak-Barking Railway Line

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Gospel Oak to Barking rail service will be operating with new electric trains.

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether additional carriages will be provided to relieve overcrowding on diesel services currently operating on the Gospel Oak to Barking rail line before new electric trains are introduced.

baroness sugg: The Gospel Oak to Barking rail line is run by Transport for London (TfL). This is not a matter for the Department for Transport (DfT) as such, the Mayor of London is accountable for this service.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Asia Bibi

baroness anelay of st johns: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about securing the safety of Asia Bibi, and all those associated with her and her trial, following her acquittal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 31 October.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​As the Prime Minister has said, Asia Bibi's acquittal is very welcome news to her family and those who have campaigned in Pakistan and around the world for her release.We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and the protection of minority religious communities, with the Pakistani Government at a senior level. The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised discrimination against religious minorities with the Ministry of Human Rights during his visit to Pakistan in November 2017. I discussed the treatment of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari, in September 2018.We will continue to press the new Government of Pakistan to adhere to its international obligations and uphold the rule of law.Due to the sensitivity of Asia Bibi's situation it would be inappropriate to comment in detail. The long-term safety of Asia Bibi and her family remains utmost in our considerations.

Department for International Trade

EU External Trade: Burma

baroness goudie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the EU Commissioner for Trade on her review of Everything but Arms trade privileges to Burma.

baroness fairhead: No discussions have taken place directly with the EU Commissioner for Trade about her review of Everything But Arms trade preferences for Burma. However, we are in regular discussion with Commission officials, including during the recent EU mission to Burma, to ensure that any decision is thoroughly assessed and considers the impact it could have on Burma’s poor.

Trade Remedies Authority: Recruitment

lord mcnicol of west kilbride: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Fairhead on 26 October (HLWS1015), what was the recruitment process of those announced as members of staff for the Trade Remedies Authority.

lord mcnicol of west kilbride: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Fairhead on 26 October (HLWS1015), what steps they have taken to ensure a free and fair recruitment process for those announced as members of staff for the Trade Remedies Authority.

baroness fairhead: On 26 October 2018 my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade announced, in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament, that the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) Chief Executive Designate had been recruited as a member of staff to the Department of International Trade (DIT). It was also announced that the Chief Economist, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Joint Chief Investigators had also been recruited to DIT, with the intention that they be transferred to the TRA once it is legally established through Royal Assent of the Trade Bill, subject to the will of Parliament. I can confirm that all of these members of staff were recruited through a standard Civil Service external recruitment process in accordance with the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles April 2018. These principles set out the rules and procedures which Government Departments must follow in order to ensure that appointments to the Civil Service are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. A Civil Service Commissioner chaired the recruitment competition for the TRA Chief Executive Designate and was responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the recruitment process followed these principles.